Courtroom scenes on TV often show attorneys and their legal assistants scrambling to find the right document to present to the judge (or jury) to advocate on behalf of their client. They are frantically searching through dozens of banker boxes containing hundreds of pieces of paper. Often, personal injury cases or clients have thousands of documents depending on the complexity of the issue and the amount of evidence. It is not easy to organize all those files!
Rather than having to haul multiple heavy boxes to court, personal injury lawyers have other options thanks to developments in legal technology.
Case management software, in particular, has been a game-changer for PI law firms. However, there are a plethora of options for case management software for attorneys. And despite what some legal tech software companies will try to tell you, no software is perfect.
And when it comes to case management software and different practice areas or type of law firms, the process of trying to decide what case management software is the right fit for your firm can feel almost impossible. At CloudLex, our only focus is building the best personal injury case management system built specifically for plaintiff-side personal injury attorneys.
With the right personal injury case management software for your firm, you will be able to access these documents from your computers, tablets, or smart IoT devices in court, at home, or even at a coffee shop. Further, legal technology has helped personal injury lawyers be more efficient, meet deadlines, organize evidence, and be better advocates for their clients.
Also, it helps improve communication and share knowledge faster and more effectively. Can’t find that paper file in your court brief? Don’t panic! Message your assistant through the app or search documents to find it instead.
If your focus and primary area of law is plaintiff personal injury, then this article will cover the 10 must-have features that personal injury firms must consider when buying case management software.
Personal Injury Litigation Drives Legal Tech Innovation
People unfortunately get injured in life, whether it’s a slip-and-fall at a grocery store due to a negligent employee or from a defective device or gadget or medical malpractice or getting into a car accident. About 1.35 million people die in car cashes and an additional 20-25 million get injured in car accidents per year. For medical malpractice, about 15,000-19,000 cases are filed per year. More than one million people per year have to go to the Emergency Department for a slip and fall accident, which is about 12% of all emergency room visits. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission data, unsafe products can cause 28.5 million injuries (2020) and 51,000 fatalities (2019) almost every year, plus $700 billion spent to mitigate injuries, deaths, and property damage from defective products. In many cases, people may want or need to seek legal recourse in order to be made whole again with insurance payouts for their damaged car and/or have their medical bills paid by the entity at fault. That’s where the personal injury attorneys come into play to help clients either get their compensation or defend against allegations of fault.
The personal injury legal field is an economic and legal power player. In 2022 alone, PI attorneys have a market size of $43.2 billion, measured by revenues, which increased from $37.5 billion in 2020. This market size is expected to keep growing at 1.9% in 2022. About 92,000 personal injury lawyers are currently active in the U.S. in 2021, which is about 5-7% of all practicing attorneys. Personal injury firms range from a solo practitioner to nation-wide personal injury law firms. Some businesses have an army of legal assistants, paralegals, law clerks, and junior attorneys whereas others must rely on their own manpower and skills to get the job done. This disparity in labor is particularly noticeable in personal injury cases, which can have thousands of banker boxes full of documents and evidence for a single client.
While the legal industry itself is rather slow to change and upgrade technology, legal tech companies have taken the lead to develop tools to help personal injury attorneys. Legal tech has recognized personal injury attorney field as a juggernaut in the U.S. economy by developing tech tools to help them be more efficient and effective in their given practices, especially for small- to mid-size firms. Personal injury practice management software is one such development. As a cloud-base platform, PI attorneys and legal professionals can access their firms’ documents, law firm email management, calendars, contacts, and more from anywhere.
Ten must have features when choosing personal injury practice management software
Despite any misgivings, legal tech is here to stay. While many attorneys and law firms might be legal tech-adverse, they are truly missing out on an opportunity to be a part of the legal digital revolution. They are also opting-out to be better practitioners for their clients. By embracing cloud-based case management software, PI attorneys will be more organized, efficient, streamlined, and improved communicators.
Plaintiff personal injury case management software assists PI attorneys through every stage of litigation as well as helping with office and administrative task management. Also, it supports streamlining of internal processes so you do not have to rely on one or two key people to get things done. Importantly, case management software enables PI attorneys and their support staff to file documents on time and not miss any critical deadlines (which could lead to malpractice or disbarment!) or forget about that settlement negotiations or pre-trial conference with the judge and opposing counsel. So here’s why you need a personal injury case management software to build, manage, and grow your personal injury practice:
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1. Simplified case management
Personal injury software for attorneys allows you to take control of your case management process from the initial legal client intake software used all the way to settlement negotiations/jury trial to conclusion. The case management systems have an innovative design and intuitive information management mechanism that helps PI attorneys not miss a critical deadline, which may result in an unhappy client and even malpractice issues. PI attorneys can see the case from start to finish as well as negotiations, costs, and more.
2. Improved caseload management
Personal injury attorneys are constantly managing several cases at a time so they need help to know their active matter count, number of stalled cases, the firm-wide count, view all cases in a specific stage, such as “Investigation” or “Discovery”, as well as individual sub-phases. Tracking the progress of your personal injury cases has never been easier.”. A case management software for personal injury attorneys gives this information at a glance. The caseload management software also have handy timelines (along with our other case management features) that will enable you to significantly decrease case processing time and enhance your firm’s legal matter management capabilities.
3. Easily monitor individual case progress
Case management software also helps PI attorneys easily monitor every individual case throughout the litigation progress. The individual case’s home page features an intuitive and prominently displayed timeline. PI attorneys can also easily determine exactly how many days a personal injury case has spent in each individual status (including the current status) and the total number of days since the matter was opened.” Within seconds, you will know the status of the case and where it is in the litigation process. These progress pages also have critical dates that are prominently highlighted so a PI attorney will be less likely to miss an important date, such as a court hearing, settlement negotiation, or pre-trial conference.
4. Attorney and case distribution
PI law firms with multiple attorneys should know how much work is assigned to which attorney. Yet, traditional methods for case assignments may not be the most efficient way to keep track of them. Plaintiff personal injury case management software, on the other hand, can let litigation managers see the total distribution of all active matters in the firm by the individual attorney with interactive, color-coded case distribution wheels. The segment size correlates to the percentage of open matters assigned to that attorney. Simply click a segment to see the attorney’s name, total matters assigned to that attorney, and a list of assigned cases. And managing case assignments has never been easier.
5. Consolidated medical treatment and expense details
PI cases often involve a lot of medical bills and documents relating to the client’s injury. It can be difficult to manage all this data in one place and have this information be front and center for easy access. From the client’s case page, the case management software enables the client’s medical information to be displayed so the PI attorney can read the details easily. With a powerful personal injury attorney fee calculator can understand better your client’s complete medical treatment profile.
Case management software also has separate tabs allowing you to organize all medical information in an intuitive manner. It enables you to quickly access an individual’s medical records and bills, information for insurance companies and medical providers, liens and case expenses, and other documents relating to the case in a simple easy-to-read format. With the documents digitized, PI attorneys can preview and link to the documents relevant to each individual entry, making the medical portion of personal injury case management a breeze.
6. Attorney and firm calendaring & email integration
Personal injury case management software can also integrate with your law firm email management tool and legal calendaring systems. With a calendar integration, all your cases, calendars, and individual attorney “personal” events are rolled into one master calendar. This calendar allows attorneys to view events across their entire caseload, as well as across the entire firm. Entries are color-coded by event type and prominently display the matter name. The entire calendar is also filterable by date and event category. Often, the integration is possible with popular calendars such as Outlook and Google.
7. Case event reporting
Take case management to the next level with management reporting functions integrated with the firm’s legal calendaring software. Cases can be won or lost due to procedural matters, so it is critical to keep track of important deadlines and events. Personal injury law office software enables the firm to track case timelines for when certain documents are due to be filed at the court or sent to opposing counsel. Also, it can keep track of the Statute of Limitations for your cases (especially if across different states). It allows you to quickly see upcoming events in the next 15 or 30 days for your own caseload and for the entire firm. The case reports are even printable if you need to take them on the go.
8. Firm-wide analytics at a glance
As soon as you log in, you’ll find all the high-level information you need to ensure smooth practice management. Dashboards with key information on such as trend analysis are readily available to assist you in running your firm. Our intuitive trend analysis chart allows you to view your firm’s trend in new case openings, case closings, and referrals over the last 3, 6 or 12 months. Plus, you can see the total number of open cases, along with the number of open cases in each phase of litigation.
9. Tracks Key Deadlines and Critical Dates
Each state and type of injury have different statute of limitations and varying filing deadlines. If a firm has cases in varying jurisdictions, these dates can be a nightmare to remember. Firms may also have many cases in different courts within a state and with different judges. Smaller firms, in particular, don’t always have the human resources to monitor litigation timelines and other important dates. Keeping track of key deadlines and filing dates is super important because an attorney can lose a case by missing a deadline. With case management software, attorneys have different options available to generate the reports that you need, such as date category-specific legal practice dashboard (including Statute of Limitations) that can be viewed in different date range configurations.
10. Comprehensive Settlement Management
While clients may want to go to trial in a PI case to have their day in court, many cases will settle. Despite our litigious nature, the legal process actually promotes settlements in PI cases. Case management software helps PI attorneys during the settlement process. PI attorneys can manage all the demands and offers in one place for single and even multiple plaintiffs for their cases. Case management software places the client’s data and relevant documents in an online folder for easy access, which can include offers from insurance adjusters against their plaintiff’s insurance as well as payment requests and expenses for each injury type. The personal injury settlement calculator intuitively shows attorney recovery and plaintiff recovery for each offer and counteroffer. Managing partners and attorneys can use firm-wide settlement reports to analyze settlement amounts, outstanding amounts, total paid amounts, demand, and offers along with closing dates so your team can follow-up on time.
Conclusion: How personal injury software can help you be a more effective PI attorney
Let’s face it: there are dozens of case management software options for PI attorneys. When it comes to case management software and different practice areas or type of law firms, the process of trying to decide which case management software is the right fit for your firm can feel almost impossible. Some personal injury software programs are better than others so it can be hard to choose.
Thankfully, CloudLex is willing to work with PI attorneys to help them find the best platform for their needs. At CloudLex, our only focus is building the best personal injury case management software built specifically for plaintiff-side personal injury attorneys. As the leader in personal injury legal tech, our software lets you take control of the process from intake to closure. Our cloud-based system also lets you access key documents and information from anywhere, whether it’s from your home or at a disposition or the courtroom. From both the Dashboard and the Reports section, you can quickly see all upcoming critical dates, such as filing deadlines, scheduled hearings, and Statute of Limitation dates.
Contact us today to sign up for a free demo and learn more!
Personal Injury Software FAQs
What is personal injury case management software?
Personal injury software is a program that is built with personal injury practices and their unique processes in mind. Its Information management mechanism allows personal injury lawyers to manage cases from intake to settlement and beyond. It helps PI firms save time and process cases with increased efficiency.
Who can use personal injury case management software?
The personal injury practice area has its own set of legal documents, challenges, and idiosyncrasies—you need software that can match those needs. Avoid generic legal case management software that can only offer piecemeal help.
